A very warm welcome to the second weekly round-up that has appeared in
a row, a trend we hope to be continuing. Included is a load of stuff that we've
unearthed from the web this week for your perusal and delectation. Some of it's
fun, some of it's funny, some will make you cheer. Oh, by the way, some may
make you a little bit stabby (sorry about that).
First up we have a survey or two, almost identical, but with
startlingly different expected results:-
The first, posted
by persons unknown poses a series of leading questions about the
efficacy of
homeopathy and the perceived unfairness of homeopaths having to abide by the
advertising laws that the rest of the country has to abide by. The second, differs
in one vital respect. It is being overseen by Doctor Tom Williamson, the
Skeptic Canary, who is a biologist and long-standing skeptic who will - and
don't faint at this – actually publish his results irrespective of their
content! Fill them both in at the same time and let's see what comes out at the
other end. (By the way, you can only do each once – after that the surveys will
not be viewable)
There seems to be another section of society who don't think the rule
of law applies to them. Along with the seemingly never-ending and depressing convictions
of priests around the world for offences against children the Catholic Church has
been pilloried this week by the Irish Government for unwillingness to report
abuse, lying about whether they are reporting all abusers and refusing to
follow even the Church's own guidelines. Only one
of eighteen priests identified by the Coyne Report were prosecuted and the
Irish Government is being forced to bring forward new
legislation specifically for the purpose.
To cheer you up here's a quick reminder from Tim Minchin of the wonderful messages that can
be found in the holy books on which religions base their teachings along
with a new
interview with the man himself on his own skeptical views. While listening you
can peruse this vital use
of Austria's freedom of religion laws enabling a devout Pastafarian (and atheist) to
wear a spaghetti strainer on his head in a driving licence photo.
Some good news released this week was the announcement of the second QED, a grass-roots skeptical
convention organised jointly by the Greater
Manchester and Merseyside Skeptics
Societies which will be held on 10th-11th March 2012 in
Manchester. If this year's combination of top notch speakers, workshops and
accumulated skeptics was anything to go by it will be an occasion not to be
missed.
Two pleasing but peculiar science innovations have been announced this
week. A team at MIT have created a method of printing
solar cells on paper and plastic which may make your future power needs extremely
lightweight and even foldable. Also, two scientists at Cornell University have
unveiled (pun intended) their latest invisibility
cloak which creates a “blind-spot in time”. It also allows writers to
mention Harry Potter and get more hits (who are we to argue with logic like
that?) The second and third comments are also worth a look.
Finally, following the fantastic night we had on Wednesday with Jon
Ronson at the Victoria, we have the
original article that Jon read from at the start of the second
half. It's a heart-warming story of the relationship between a father, a son
and the worst swearwords in the English Language. Unsurprisingly it's both
hilarious and NSFW.
See you next week!
This week's round-up was put together by Chris Richardson (@christheneck).
3 comments:
Nice job Chris.
Good roundup!
Great work, folks!
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